I'm stil taking things rather slow. I knew the holiday season would be very difficult with my mother having passed so recently. We did what we could for the little ones in our immediate family to enjoy themselves.
Duoing Rift with a Buddy
I've been back in Rift for a few weeks leveling the content with a gaming friend who hadn't played before. Kudos to Trion and how well the content stands up for the 4th time around. I'd leveled several characters up to Perspice and it's almost as much fun now as the first jaunt. There were still so many quests I'd not done before. With the options of questing, doing rifts, PVP, instances and grinding, I tended to out level zones without doing many of the quests which is a good thing! It really makes replayability rather stellar. We're a stone's throw from level 50 and I never felt like OMG, I've done all this before. SWTOR needs to take a queue from that and make it possible for players to mix up how they level without missing "required" quest chains. More on that in a minute.
The only thing missing from Rifts are the big crowds. That intense level of heightened excitment is missing from the zones unless there's a zone wide event. I wish my friend had been there to see the meyhem and madness of the earlier days. He really enjoys rift chasing and doing the events. Regardless, we've had fun and are looking forward to doing the new level 50 content that I haven't seen yet myself.
Dabbling in SWTOR
Star Wars isn't a favorite IP of mine. I've seen all the movies but I don't own a single one. I wasn't excited about the game. My only intent was to check it out and play for the first free month. So far it's okay. The settings aren't my thing being a die hard fantasy fan. The questing is rather meh for me since I don't really care about the story and I'm not a huge questing fan. I tend to mix it up with grinding mobs which isn't grinding to me.
What I do enjoy are the class quest lines, group quests and instance content (Flash Points). For me, that's where the game really shines. The story in those feel more compelling. It's like playing out a part in a movie - it's fun! My class is also diverse and interesting to play. I've chosen Inquisitor > Sorcerer for ranged DPS, utility and healing. She feels pretty bad ass in a group. I've only clocked a few hours. It's something I log into as a late night diversion.
My Son Digs SWTOR
After watching me play for a bit my son decided to get a copy too. He's also more of a fantasy person but is rather bored with Rfit. After a few days, he came to the same conclusion - love the class quests, PVP and instances, wishes he could skip the rest. Unfortunately, you can't. There are necessary quest chains for picking your advanced class and getting the ship you'll need to access the higher level Flash Points. Moreover, there's nothing that overtly leads you to these NPCs to get the quest chains. You run across them if you're doing all the quests. Both of us initially missed the quest to choose the advanced class.
I had to search on the web to figure out why I was level 12 but couldn't purchase the level 10 spells I could clearly see on the Class Trainer. We weren't alone. I found many threads and links where people were asking the same question. My son ended up having to back track through content to get his ship for the very same reason. I think that needs some tweaking. Other than that, he's really enjoying it now that he's 20-something. For me, it's still just something to do if I'm in the mood. My money is waiting on GW2.
Still Crafting in Real Life
I'm still crafting in real life. In fact, I had a nice little jump in activity the couple of weeks before Christmas. It tickles me when people purchase or "favorite" the two rings inspired by my love of fantasy. The ring called Rose of New Eden, inspired by EVE Online has done well. The Inara Serra III ring has sold nicely when seen in person - flea market and jewelry showings.
I recently revamped my Nomadic Eclectic website to be more of a showcase. With Etsy picking up steam for me, I couldn't see implementing the disabled ecommerce features that were part of that original theme. I moved to something designed to just give people a taste of what I'm doing before hushering them over to my Esty Shop.
That's all I've been up to the past couple of months. Hanging in there as best I can. I have my good days and my bad days over my mother's passing. I've found making jewelry to be much more relaxing than sewing so I've sidelined that for the most part. I lost the tip of a finger, sewed through another one and was accumulating more cuts and gashes that necessary. My mind wanders a bit too much at the moment for the intense concentration needed to sew safely. Plus I feel more creative freedom and contentment making jewelry so am sticking with it.
